Monday, 24 September 2012

Taxi Driver Perspective: Errant Cabbies vs Demanding Passengers

John Andrew informs the following on 23/09/2012:

Hi, I am John Andrew, Just recently knighted as a Cab/Taxi Driver with
Comfort Cab these past 6 months. I was serving the Army as a Regular for the
past 35 years. After all these years serving the Nation I decided that I shall
be my own Boss and at the same time attend to my Charity works, social services
as well as Counselling in order to keep my Counselling Psychology Degree
current. Well so much about myself and now to write my views and observation on
the topic I have chosen to share.

I do agree that we do have reckless,
unruly drivers etc. but we Cabbies do too have very highly demanding passengers
too. There are passengers (pax) who thinks cabbies should know every "creeks and
nooks" in Singapore. I beg to differ. Singapore as we native Singaporeans know
for a fact that roads, buildings, places in and around Singapore changes over
time and it is tough to keep track of the changes. And the routes that changes
over time.

Unlike the Countries I have travelled for e.g Australia,
Taiwan, Thailand, USA, New Zealand... These places, roads and buildings remains
unchanged. So is it right to say been born in a particular Country or commonly
known as natives of one Country, Cabbies should know all the places in Singapore
then I must agree to disagree to say the least. Sadly, it isn't the case. And I
want to reiterate that when a cabby asked which route you prefer to take does
not necessarily means we do not know the way,instead we cabby want to know your
preferred to avoid being accused of taking a longer distance.

In these
past 4 months, driving a cab in Singapore, please allow me to share my
experiences or my encounters with Pax and you be the judge:

a. As far
as possible, I will almost always ask my pax after greeting them, "is there any
specific route you want me to take". And normally the answer from the Pax would,
"Fastest and the Shortest route." No Thank You, No Please, and No Greetings
Returned.

b. Most pax especially, the Foreigners, almost always
assume (ass u me) that our Cabbies are all out to cheat on them by taking the
longest route, checking our taxi meter with ostrich neck movements, and worst
still taking out their toy phones and googling the route we are traveling to
penalize us for not going the other direction etc. My view on this is, Your
shortest route may not be my shortest route. As a cabby, I choose to travel
routes that are less congested or faster because I rather pick more passengers
at various stops then to be stuck with one pax for long. it does not pack
monetary sense.N.B: I try as often to explain that in Singapore Cabbies who
are found flouting the rules or cheating pax in terms of taking longer than
perceived routes can be penalized by LTA.

c. Then there are Pax who
books a call and at the same time waits on a another Taxi by the by. And the
moment a taxi comes along their way they take that taxi and cancels your
booking. This has happen many many times with me and I am certain it happens
with other cabbies too. Not bearing in mind that usually when a call is made and
when take the bookings we have to make u-turns and turns to rush to the callers
location only to disappointed with a rude cancellations. And this happens far
too often that affects our business as it is becoming too rampant. And most of
the time it's a foreigner who abuses the booking system here in
Singapore.

d. I have also encountered pax who directs you through a
certain route and when they suddenly gets disorientated with the route accuses
the Cabbies by remarking, "You take on from here you are the cabby and you
should know the routes? Come on excuse me, you bring us to a unknown destination
or location and ask us to navigate from there is that fair on us
Cabbies.

e. And to make matters worst the insist on paying us less than
what is shown on the meter as a discount for taking them for a ride so they
claimed. Often we Cabbies will just bite the bullet and receive our dues rather
to engage with an argument with these sort of nasty pax or cheapo pax.

f. Then there are pax who expects you to drive fast so that they
can reach their location faster because they are late for work or their
appointments etc. If we comply we are good Cabby otherwise they rant and vent
their grudges and anger on us.

g. How about pax who makes a booking and
make you wait 5 to 10 mins but if you make the pax wait 2 to 3 mins they grumble
and cry mother and cry father. Looks like damn you do and damn you
don't.

h. But having said all of the above, I must admit we do have
great pax who are friendly, greets you with please, thank you and above all
treats us cabbies with dignity. But to dwelve into these I shall write about it
in my next sharing.

Thank you for reading and forgive me if I sound
nagging and intolerant due to lack of patience and understanding. God Bless and
Have a Blessed Day.

3 comments:

Your points are spot on! For those alibaba cases( cancel booking ) , it happens many times at Tanjong Rhu condos; as there is only one way in, pax cancelled the booking once they saw your taxi, and flag your cab after the booking was cancelled, saving them the booking fee, and guess who always do that (those knn klg)

Transcab drivers are extremely rude behave like hooligans.if we wear scarf it means we are religious and we should be silent when we are being abused? We should allow them to continue to abuse us?and if we retaliate it means we are bitches?These are the perception of 1 old chinese driver from transcab whom I believed must have patronised geylang prostitutes too often judging on the languages he used.Not sure if the plate no.is shc 5953 or shc 5593.I was carrying a lot of marketing stuff from tekka market to amk.He didnt want to pick me up at the taxi stop but instead asked me to walk to his taxi so he could u turn to use another route.when i reached my destination asked him to stop at the carpark near to the lift he raised his voice n told me off can't u see there's a car there how to stop next to the car.I said its ok i ustand u can always stop before or after the car.He got mad.when I came out and went to the back to get my things .He didnt open the car boot.I came back to him and ask him 'can u open the boot he again raised his voice in a rude manner'pull la,u can't pull is it!.I was limping away due to recent surgery.I went back again to collect my things.Then i came to him and said u are not helpful.when i was walking away He reversed his taxi wind down the screen and asked what did u say 'bitch'and started using foul language to me .I told him i will report to LTA of your behaviour.He continued abusing and tell me to go and report.He then told me u pray and wearing scarf for what.He used chinese vulgarities chee###.I believed he came out from different parts of his mother for him to use such languages.Such a scary driver So old and yet so hyper.I wonder how such people can be in Transcab.

Transcab drivers are extremely rude behave like hooligans.if we wear scarf it means we are religious and we should be silent when we are being abused? We should allow them to continue to abuse us?and if we retaliate it means we are bitches?These are the perception of 1 old chinese driver from transcab whom I believed must have patronised geylang prostitutes too often judging on the languages he used.Not sure if the plate no.is shc 5953 or shc 5593.I was carrying a lot of marketing stuff from tekka market to amk.He didnt want to pick me up at the taxi stop but instead asked me to walk to his taxi so he could u turn to use another route.when i reached my destination asked him to stop at the carpark near to the lift he raised his voice n told me off can't u see there's a car there how to stop next to the car.I said its ok i ustand u can always stop before or after the car.He got mad.when I came out and went to the back to get my things .He didnt open the car boot.I came back to him and ask him 'can u open the boot he again raised his voice in a rude manner'pull la,u can't pull is it!.I was limping away due to recent surgery.I went back again to collect my things.Then i came to him and said u are not helpful.when i was walking away He reversed his taxi wind down the screen and asked what did u say 'bitch'and started using foul language to me .I told him i will report to LTA of your behaviour.He continued abusing and tell me to go and report.He then told me u pray and wearing scarf for what.He used chinese vulgarities chee###.I believed he came out from different parts of his mother for him to use such languages.Such a scary driver So old and yet so hyper.I wonder how such people can be in Transcab.